On This Day

Mischief personified

1970
One of Pakistan's finest legspinners is born. When he was in his prime, with his right arm whipping over and the ball spitting both ways from the pitch, Mushtaq Ahmed was mischief personified. He had his moments in the Test arena - 185 of them. But Mushy's signature moment was the 1992 World Cup final. Wasim Akram took the headlines, but Mushy took the big wickets of Graham Gooch and Graeme Hick in a bewildering spell. Typically erratic, Mushtaq also took a couple of horrible pastings off Australia - 1 for 145 off 36 overs in Rawalpindi in 1994-95, and 3 for 194 off 38 in Brisbane five years later. A glorious season for Sussex in 2003, when he became the first bowler in five years to take 100 wickets in the English season, got him back into the Pakistan Test side briefly. However, as his international career faded away he remained a match-winner for Sussex and also joined the Indian Cricket League. He retired from first-class cricket towards the end of the 2008 season and took up the role of England's spin-bowling coach.

1985
An infamous dropped catch from Mike Gatting. Fourteen years before Herschelle Gibbs dropped the World Cup, Gatting threw away a Lord's Test by reprieving Allan Border with a premature celebration, having taken a fierce flick in his midriff at short leg. Border was on 87 at the time, and went on to a punishing 196, the highest score by an Australian captain at Lord's. Without those runs it would have been a seriously close game - Australia eventually limped to victory on 127 for 6.

1934
A controversial fast bowler is born. Roy Gilchrist was an extremely nasty proposition for a batsman, and in some people's opinion was the fastest bowler in the game's history. In 13 Tests he took 57 cheap wickets, but he was sent home from a tour of India in 1958-59 in disgrace, Roy Keane-style, after excessive use of the beamer and a series of contretemps with his captain, Gerry Alexander. He never played Test cricket again, and instead spent 20 years terrorising all comers in the Lancashire League. He took 37 hat-tricks. He would often even work batsmen over in charity games, and once had a heated on-pitch exchange with Cec Pepper of Australia, who later described Gilchrist as a "nutter". Gilchrist suffered from Parkinson's disease and died in his native Jamaica in 2001.

1928
Neil Adcock's right-hand man is born. Peter Heine and Adcock formed a fearsome new-ball double-act for South Africa in the 1950s. Both were genuinely quick, and malignant enough to look after themselves. On his debut, at Lord's in 1955, Heine took 5 for 60 in the first innings, and then added eight wickets in the next match at Old Trafford. He also had a liking for Johannesburg, where he twice took six-fors against Australia in 1957-58, though neither led to South African victories.

1969
Coming to the crease with England 39 for 4, still 341 behind West Indies, John Hampshire made a superb 107 in his first Test innings and until Andrew Strauss' sensational debut hundred against New Zealand in 2004, he was the only Englishman to do so in a Lord's Test. This thrilling match ended in a draw, with England closing on 295 for 7 in pursuit of 332. It was Hampshire's zenith: he played eight Tests and never again exceeded 55.

1888
Birth of the West Indian who faced the first ball in that team's cricket history. George Challenor was almost 40 by the time West Indies took their bow, at Lord's in 1928, but he had already made his mark before then. In 1912-13, batting for Barbados against a strong MCC team, he cracked 118 and 109, and is recognised as the first great West Indian batsman. He died in Barbados in 1947.